


Multishift

by outerink



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (Get it? That’s why it’s called Multishift), Angst, Attempt at Humor, Error’s emo phase, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Multiverse, Really Bad Puns, Swapped Multiverse, Underverse, Underverse AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26093698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outerink/pseuds/outerink
Summary: Somewhere, in an alternate multiverse, Error was forced to take Outer’s soul to survive. He hadn’t meant for things to come spiraling down, but it seemed like Fate wasn’t on his side this time.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Chara/Chara (Undertale), Chara/Frisk (Undertale)/Original Character(s), Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale), Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

In an endless white void sat a familiar form. 

Ink.

He laughs, holding what looks like a soul in his hands. It wasn’t his own, no. Instead...

“We did it!” He cheers, “We were able to take Outer’s soul! It probably won’t be long before someone finds out that he only has a ninth of a soul left…”

Something about him seemed…  _ off.  _ His form glitches as he leans back, looking at his blank surroundings with a frown.

“...Maybe, we can make our own universe! One that isn’t so bland and boring! Just think about it: our own timeline! We could do so many things with this opportunity!”

He looked down once again, his smile wavering.

“We should  _ probably _ absorb this soul first, though. Are ya ready, pal?”

His form glitched again. This time, however, it  _ completely _ changed. He looked like a completely different person now.

And he was.

Error was staring down at the soul with a scowl. Absorbing souls was never fun, but he knew that he had to have as close to a full soul as possible. It’s not like he killed Outer, anyways! He left him with a ninth of a soul!

He hesitated.

“...Yeah, ready.”

Another glitch. Ink sat there again.

“...What’s wrong? Are you…”

“I’m not so sure about this, Ink,” Error hated how pathetic he sounded, “Although Blue was annoying, he still wanted to help us. Outer refused to fight back, even though we took something valuable from him. They may be nothing more than anomalies, but...”

“Are you afraid of releasing me?” Ink’s eyes fixated on the soul’s glow. 

He felt Error hesitate and sighed. Quickly, he let Error take their physical body again. 

However, he hadn’t disappeared. Ink was sitting right next to him, now in his phantom form. The form that only he and his ‘soul-buddy’ could see.

“I made you a promise, Ru. I promised to never leave you and I’m sticking by that. Those dark days of fighting are over. You may have given up a long time ago, but I haven’t. I’ll never give up! I’m going to help you rebuild the world we could have had, the world that we  _ deserved…” _

For a few moments, nothing was said. Instead of sparing even a single glance in Ink’s direction, Error continued to face down.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

For the first time in ages, he had almost a full soul. A  _ real  _ soul, at that. Surviving off of a ninth of a soul was difficult, especially when you shared it with someone else.

Error stood up, enjoying the newfound strength he had. He missed this more than anything. 

His smaller eye resembled an eyelight Ink used to have: a yellow star with a blue pupil. The tearlines running down from his sockets could barely cover the “ink splotch” stained onto his cheekbone.

Ink’s playful clapping annoyed him, but he knew he was celebrating for the same reason he was. 

Finally, they could recreate the universes that both of them lost.

* * *

Tensely, Outer sat down under the stars next to his ‘new friend.’ After the recent events happened, neither of them knew how to start their conversation.

Finally, the silence got to Outer.

“...Soooo… your name’s Blue, huh?”

The other didn’t turn to him, “...Yep. The magnificent Blue at your service.”

Outer didn’t reply.

Hesitantly, Blue faced him, “Outer, I’m sorry. I never even knew that this was  _ possible…” _

“It’s okay, bud. It’s not like I’m dead!” Outer realized what he said and, in a bad attempt of a joke, he chuckled, “At least not yet.”

Blue didn’t laugh. 

Outer realized how this could have made him uncomfortable and tried to change the subject, “It looks like that guy likes to cause a lot of chaos.”

“Actually,” Blue glanced to the side, “This is the first time that I’ve ever seen him do something like this. I know it sounds crazy but, he’s just scared! Scared of… it’s a long story…”

The starry Sans considered telling him that he didn’t want to hear it, but at the same time he couldn’t help but be curious. 

“Well, it’s just another day in a pacifist timeline here,” Outer pointed out, laying down and watching a shooting star, “You can tell me you’d like.”

Blue perked up. 

“You wanna learn more about Glitchy? I’d be happy to explain everything!”

Although confused by his sudden enthusiasm and excitement, Outer gestured at him to continue.

“So, this all started when one of our old friends died. He was pushed into the C.O.R.E. by Error and… even  _ he  _ regretted it. A lot. So, we started to mourn together. While I was able to remain as optimistic as possible, Glitchy was a little more sensitive to it. He and Ink were  _ surprisingly  _ close. As a matter of fact, he meant to push Ink to the edge, not make him  _ fall into  _ it…

It’s good to remember that he and Ink used to bond over everything they lost. Both of them never really had the opportunity to have a normal universe, to live a normal life. They would meet up in the Anti-Void- that’s where you just were- and talk there for hours. Apparently, they could tell each other  _ everything.  _ They pretended to hate each other in front of others but, in private, they were best friends. 

I visited him the day after to yell at him but… he was horrified. Terrified to the point where he could barely speak and kept on crashing,”

The memory made Blue frown. His tone saddened as he looked down at his knees,

“I didn’t yell at him. I  _ couldn’t.  _ Even I knew that there was something happening between him and Ink. What happened wasn’t  _ supposed  _ to happen. It was then that I realized that Error must have felt  _ truly alone.  _ Ink was the only person who he could relate to on most levels.

Uhm, things only got stranger from there. Error began to act…  _ different.  _ Completely different. But only half of the time. The other half of the time, he seemed like a completely different person. It almost seemed like he was fighting an internal battle with himself, that he was split between two beings even though that certainly wasn’t the case.

However, I was still his friend. His only one, at that. Of course I was there for him. I made sure that he was alright and I visited him frequently. Soon, he was becoming  _ himself  _ again.

We did a lot together! Play games, watch shows, gossip… anything that could take his mind off of Ink. It certainly helped, I think!”

Outer nodded, continuing to listen closely. 

Blue was happy to continue,

“However… one day, while I was teaching him how to solve puzzles, he sat down again. He told me that a strange Chara-like figure visited him. They tried to convince him to go elsewhere again for the first time in… stars, years? Decades? Even I lost count. Ink’s been dead for a century, so… probably decades. 

But Error refused. He thought that, with my newfound healing abilities and skills, I could help him bring back Ink someday. When I told him that I couldn’t, though… his  _ face…” _

Obviously, Outer had no idea what he was referring to. He tilted his skull to the side, watching as Blue’s eyelights dimmed.

“...Yeah?” was all he asked, hoping that Blue would continue.

Fortunately, he did. “Anywho, his soul… Error’s soul, I mean… he only has a  _ ninth _ of it. It certainly didn’t help when a certain  _ someone  _ named Cross decided to go to his void and  _ take his soul.  _ His one ninth of a soul. I… still don’t know why Cross felt the need to but he’s kind of a weirdo. 

Cross may have taken his soul but he wasn’t able to slow down Error. Glitchy has  **determination,** something most of us don’t have. Thanks to that, he was able to keep himself alive up until he ran out of it!

But, he disappeared one day and I haven’t seen him since. Well, until today! I didn’t even think he was still alive… I guess I’m glad that he’s still around, but he somehow took your soul. I don’t know how that was possible. And it looks like he left you with a ninth of a soul. How…  _ kind  _ of him?”

Outer watched as Blue stood up and looked into the distance.

“I have to admit… I can’t stop him by myself,” He looked down at Outer with a frown, “Is isn’t the best thing to do, but… Outer. I need your help to find Error. Wanna come with me?”

His hopeful expression made the other pause. But he knew that he couldn’t do that.

“Sorry… I think I can live with this, actually. It doesn’t worry me at all,” He stood up slowly, glancing at the ‘guardian’ with an apologetic smile.

“Oh, that’s okay! Don’t worry about it,” Blue chuckled, “It was me who let this happen, anyways! I’ll try my hardest to fix this and bring back your soul!”

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his wand-like weapon. It had a dark blue grip. The bell of the wand was light blue with a darker blue star-shaped outline in the middle of it. Between the grip and the bell was a rounded golden base with a gold heart attached to the top, just below the bell itself. Light blue wings were attached to this base. At the end of the grip was a yellow tip and a rounded blue marble.

In some way, it almost looked magical.

“I have to go now,” Blue pointed out, “Have a nice day, buddy! Say hi to your friends for me as well!”

Before Outer could even respond, the slightly smaller skeleton held up the wand. It lit up and, when he aimed it at the ground, something blue shot out of it. This, of course, was a portal. He jumped through it, leaving the other skeleton alone.

Outer stared at the ground blankly.

“...That was  _ out of this world!  _ Heh heh-”

“Sans!”

He whipped around, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw Papyrus and Frisk.

“There you are, brother! Are you ready for our amazing picnic?”

After sparing a quick glance at the now-closed portal, Outer shrugged his shoulders and walked to them.

“Sure, let’s go.”

* * *

In an emptier universe, Error stood still. His arms were crossed as he watched Ink with an unimpressed expression. 

Ink was trying to create something while in his phantom form. Of course it didn’t work. He couldn’t do anything unless he took control of Error’s-  _ their _ body again.

“We can’t make another universe, rainbow dumbass. Not in the way you’re used to.”

“Maybe if we try hard enough, we can succeed! Or…” Ink’s eyelights lit up and he leapt up, “Maybe we can take code from other universes and bring it here? That way we can remake our own universe  _ ourselves!” _

Wow… did Ink just think of a  _ good  _ plan? That was a new one.

“How do we do that, though? Neither of us are as strong as we used to be.  _ Both _ of us know this. We can’t even leave this void because you keep leeching all of the magic out of me.”

Ink sighed, “It doesn’t work like that! I’m not leeching-”

“No one asked.”

The phantom facepalmed. 

Error scowled, “I just want to get out of this place and make our own universe already! One where I don’t take determination or have to go through-”

“Uh, Error,” Ink interrupted, only for his words to fall upon deaf ears.

“-genocide routes every other day because of some edgy anomalies! Those Frisks and Charas are the  **_real_ ** abominations!”

**_“Error!”_ **

_ “What?” _

Ink pointed next to him. Confused, the glitch followed his gaze.

Oh.

Another skeleton, slightly taller than him, was standing next to him and smirking. Those golden eyelights were recognizable from ten universes away.

Dream.

Everyone knew Dream. Once upon a time, he had been the guardian of positivity. 

However, something went wrong in his coding and he was corrupted. Ever since then, Nightmare’s taken his place and now is the guardian of negativity  _ and  _ positivity.

“What do you want?” Error asked with an annoyed glare. He didn’t want to deal with this sunny dickhead’s shit today.

“It feels like you’re not too happy today. Any way I can help with that?”

Oh, right. He could still feel other people’s emotions.

Error hesitated, “What?”

“It’s nice to see you again, old friend,” Dream turned to face him completely this time, “You had everyone worried, you know. Hiding away in your void like that… I only found you because, even after all this time, you’re still basically  _ made  _ of negativity.”

Before he could snap back, Ink put a hand on the glitch’s shoulder and grinned.

“Error,  _ Dream _ is still here? He can definitely get us from universe to universe! Let’s ask him to help!”

In response, a glare was shot in the artist’s direction. A few moments of silence passed before Error rolled his eyes.

“I want my universe back. The universe I  _ deserve,  _ not the one Fate decided to ruin for me. I can’t travel on my own, though.”

Dream raised a brow, an amused grin making its way across his features, “Oh? Never thought I’d hear a  _ destroyer  _ say that they wanted to create something.”

“I do want to create,” Error mumbled, “Create my own universe. I’ll destroy other, less needed universes in the process.”

Ink whispered something in his ear. Error perked up. 

“It’s not like they even deserve to be happy, anyways.”

As expected, these words caused Dream to perk up. He smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets as his eye sockets widened.

“Your intentions… I  _ like _ where this is going. I’ll be happy to help you,” Before Ink could celebrate, the taller skeleton continued what he was saying, “But I expect one thing in exchange.”

Of course. Always. People just  _ had  _ to be difficult.

“What now?” Error questioned, clearly getting irritated by not only Dream but also by Ink trying to poke Dream as well. 

“Wherever you go, I want you to cause chaos. Anything that will cause the balance between positivity and negativity to shatter,” He leaned back, “My brother may have worked hard to keep it balanced, but I couldn’t care less. I want it  _ destroyed.  _ Just like all of those universes that you plan on causing havoc in.”

Ink snorted. “His catch is that you, someone who’s already a destroyer, has to destroy universes as well? That’s  _ easy-” _

**“However.** You can’t destroy an entire universe, so just destroy things  _ within _ the universe. You’ll have to do some good things too sometimes, although I’ll try to bring you to only good universes that need a taste of their own medicine.”

That caused the artist to shut up -  **_finally._ **

“Deal,” Error replied, summoning his strings. “I’ll try to not mess things up too much.”

Little did they know, someone else was approaching them in the distance. He was small, with purple eyelights and violet clothing on. His smile was bright as he prepared to greet an old pal. 

Nightmare was expecting to see Error and to hopefully catch up with him, although he paused when he saw the destroyer with his brother.

There was no way. No way that Dream could tame  _ Error  _ of all people. 

But it was already too late. The sight of the two teleporting away made the guardian of feelings pause.

He opened a portal and stepped into it. 

Blue. He had to tell Blue right away.

* * *

The stars above them were gorgeous. Even after living here for so long, Outer couldn’t help but admire them. Something like space could never grow old in his eyes.

He couldn’t stop thinking about everything, though. How  _ could  _ he after he learned that alternate universes really  _ did  _ exist? Not only that, but another version of himself  _ stole _ his soul!

Papyrus and Frisk were chatting with Undyne and Alphys, who showed up not too long ago. No matter how hard he tried to make himself listen to their conversation, he always  _ spaced out.  _ It seemed that trying was useless.

“Sans, are you okay?”

Papyrus’ voice pulled him out of his thoughts. His poor brother looked worried. Oddly enough, the others looked concerned as well.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” He mumbled, “Is it okay if I take a walk, bro? I don’t feel good.”

“Of course!” came his younger brother’s reply, “Just don’t get lost again, we don’t have a lot of time before the human needs to confront the king!”

“Okay.”

He turned on his heels and walked away. The stars were winking at him, telling him of a greater story with just their shine alone. Earth sat in the distance, reminding him that he would probably be trapped here forever.

Maybe going with Blue  _ would  _ have been the better option. 

Finally, he arrived at where the portal had once been. It looked like someone had dyed the floor blue.

Reluctantly, he summoned his soul and frowned. Only a ninth of it was there, as expected. What he wasn’t expecting was to see his soul  _ glitching.  _

That definitely wasn’t normal.

He spared a glance at the blue rock floor. Maybe Blue would be able to hear him and hopefully help him out.

“Blue? Are ya there, bud?” The lack of a response made him get frustrated, “Blue! Answer me!”

“Sans?”

Frisk. 

He didn’t even need to face them to know how worried they were. Their voice was laced with concern.

“Who’s Blue?”

He frowned. How could he explain this to them in a way they could understand?

* * *

Somewhere in the center of the Multiverse was another dimension. One where data of every single universe was stored, whether it was still there or not. 

It had no floor and, instead, was only a place where you could float. Hundreds upon thousands of papers were there, each holding code of every universe that had ever existed.

The owner of this dimension? Blue.

He was taking notes of what he knew for sure had happened. The Anti Void was one of the strangest parts of the universe, a part that lacked code. The only way to get there was to go through other universes and hope you found a crack in time there. 

Still, there was a paper for it. One that Blue had made himself. It held no data, but it did hold other information such as the last time a void to get in had opened for it. 

“Oh, Glitchy…” He mumbled to the paper, knowing that his friend wouldn’t be able to hear him from there, “I guess I should continue to look for you… But that void, it’s so lonely and…  _ blank.” _

A small sigh could be heard as he turned to the side, arms crossed in frustration, “Come on, Blue! Focus! This shouldn’t be so difficult! You’re the magnificent Blue, the guardian of the Multiverse! You’ll find him in a blink!”

But it  _ was _ difficult. Error was one of his best friends. Knowing he had gone missing was concerning to him. 

Suddenly, a portal opened and someone leapt through.

“BLUE!!!”

Nightmare barreled right into him by accident. 

“OW! N-Nightmare?! What’s wrong?!”

He had never seen Nightmare this worried before. Never.

“I saw something and… okay, I went to a universe because I felt negativity and I wanted to help…”

“Yeah?”

“And when I got there, my  _ brother  _ was already there! And that guy had a bunch of strings, like Error-!”

“That  _ is  _ Error.”

“What?!”

Blue pointed at the paper, a frown on his face, “He may have left the Anti-Void, but all the voids link together in some way…”

“Error made an alliance with my brother!”

This caught the guardian’s attention. “An alliance?”

“My brother will get Error anywhere, but he needs to  _ destroy _ something in exchange…”

Uh oh.

“Thanks, Nightlight. That’ll make it easier for me to hopefully find him…”

The nickname seemed to calm down the guardian of feelings, but the word ‘find’ made him perk up.

“Blue, let me go with you. I can’t let them destroy the balance! I would never forgive myself…”

Blue set a hand on his shoulder, “Night… I won’t put your life in danger this time. You’re the guardian of feelings, people  _ need  _ you! I’m Ink’s replacement, I took this position knowing what would happen. You’ve saved me  _ multiple  _ times! It’s about time I pay you back.”

The other hesitated, “...I-”

He was cut off when someone calling out to Blue could be heard. Both of them startled and looked at the universe the shout came from. 

“...Outer?” Blue automatically grew tense. 

Nightmare felt his worry, too.

* * *

Turns out, Outer didn’t need to explain much.

Frisk checked him after he lied about being okay. 

“Your soul…! Outer, do you need me to reset?!”

Outer’s eye lit up,  **“DON’T.”**

Awkward coughing could be heard. Both of them turned around, only to see Blue staring.

“This is  _ awkward,”  _ Blue pointed out with a nervous grin. 

“There you are,” Outer let out a relieved sigh, “I’ve decided to go with you.”

“What? Are you serious…?” Blue spared a glance at the kid. For a split second, Outer could swear he saw  _ wistfulness  _ in his gaze, “Oh, human!”

“Blue…?” Frisk furrowed their brows, “Why does Outer have to go?”

“I guess I have to tell ya everything,” Outer mumbled, “So, basically…”

* * *

It was odd to see a Sans interact with a Frisk after so long.

Blue remembers the days when he would trick Chara with crazy puzzles that anyone could go through. The memory was funny to him now, although back then he was frustrated by how they could somehow go through everything. 

Sometimes, he misses those times. But he knew he could never go back to those days. A little while before Ink died, he had realized that being an outcode for so long had granted him some unique abilities as well.

He couldn’t create. What he could do, though, was heal and fix. It was easier said than done, of course. He had to modify the coding of destroyed universes quite a bit. With this, he was able to fix universes by recycling formerly-used codes.

However, he wasn’t able to bring back people who had been destroyed. That’s why, when Ink fell down the C.O.R.E. all those years ago, he wasn’t able to bring his friend back. 

With his death came an imbalance. Error refused to leave the Anti-Void and stopped caring for the balance between creation and destruction. Those days were long gone.

So, Blue did all that he could do. He was already an outcode from being kidnapped all those years ago, so all he had to do was run away from Underswap and take Ink’s position. It was  _ his _ responsibility. Surely, Fate granted him his powers for a reason.

Outer and Frisk exchanged a hug. Eventually, Outer walked off to him.

Blue stood up, “You don’t have to do this, Outer…”

“If I die because of Error, then I’d prefer that my family isn’t forced to see me dust.”

The guardian hesitated. Unfortunately, Outer held a good point. Not even he knew if what Error did would kill him or not.

Before he opened another portal, he glanced back at Frisk. They were smiling at the two of them, seeming oddly proud. 

Both of them smiled back. 

They waved as they fell through the portal, leaving for an unspecified amount of time.

* * *

“Here we are. First universe you’ll destroy.”

Error could basically  _ hear  _ Dream’s smirk. He rolled his eyelights, stuffing his hands into his pockets and glancing around. 

“Do you recognize this place, destroyer? I’m sure you do. It  _ is  _ the universe you used to always protect, after all.~”

Undertale.

Dream took them to  _ Undertale. _

It works. Plus, Ink didn’t seem to have a problem with it either. 

“Thanks, Dream.”

These words surprised the other, who shrugged in return.

“Have fun!”

And with that, the former embodiment of positivity teleported off to stars knows where. 

The entrance to Snowdin was calling out to them. With a small smile, Error summoned his strings and got ready to play his games again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Multishift~!  
> Obviously I don’t own Undertale or any of its AUs, but I came up with the idea for Multishift and all. I saw a lot of swap universes but never saw one to this extent so... here we are!  
> If you have any questions, ask me here or ask me on my Tumblr! (outerink.tumblr.com)  
> I’m so excited to write this, I’ve had this idea for a long time! Let’s hope I actually can finish this time without my ADHD getting in the way, haha!


	2. Chapter 2

Blue oftentimes forgot how nice the original Undertale universe was.

Snowdin especially was a lovely place. The people were friendly and the scenery was simple, just as it should be. Once this was all over, he would have to visit more.

The sight of nothing happening, however, made him pause.

Why wasn’t Outer doing anything?

A quick peek over the foliage he was hiding in said it all. Outer was curled up in the soft snow, snoring lightly as the snowflakes fell on top of him.

Of course he fell asleep.

_ “Pssst!”  _ He whisper-yelled, trying not to get caught by any of the people here. They were likely in contact with his brother and he would rather not be forced to face him right now,  _ “Outer, wake up!” _

Drowsily, Outer rolled over. “Just five more minutes…”

Before Blue could do anything else, the starry Sans leapt up with wide eyes.

“Is that  _ snow?!  _ Woah, this place, it can’t be…”

Oh, right. Outertale didn’t have snow.

Not the kind of snow that was here, at least.

His happy expression told Blue everything. 

_ Outer’s never been to Earth before.  _

“Welcome to Earth!” Blue chirped, “This is only the Underground, it’s much better on the surface! Welcome to Snowdin, the town in the original Undertale!”

The stars in the taller skeleton’s eyes faded and he turned to Blue, amusement clear in his expression.

“Why are you hiding? You don’t blend in at all, you know.”

In response, the guardian giggled, “I can’t be seen in any AU for everyone’s sake! Mweh heh heh!”

Outer raised a brow, “If you did that with Error, none of this stuff would be happening. I wouldn’t be standing in some alternate universe with only a ninth of a soul, and you would be doing whatever Blue things you do.”

“Good point,” muttered the other, climbing out of the bush and getting up next to Outer.

“So, Error went here?”

“I hope so! It would suck if we were wrong,” Blue shrugged, “He’s being transported everywhere by Dream… he  _ really  _ hates this place. Despises it, even.”

“Let’s go then.”

The two of them teleported up to Snowdin. When two other monsters emerged, Blue quickly hid in some more bushes.

“Sans! Why did you change clothes?” Monster Kid asked, his tone laced with concern, “We don’t have time for that! Snowdin’s going down, you should be escaping!”

The kid scurried away, leaving Outer confused. 

“...He’s the same in almost every universe,” Blue mused with a chuckle. He stopped speaking when Outer started to glitch.

“What was that?!” Outer asked, his voice wavering. Blue paused.

“Oh no… Error, what are you trying to do now?”

Up ahead of them, Error had wrapped the entirety of Snowdin in blue strings. From the corner of his eye, he could see Dream watching him, although when he fully turned around no one was there. 

He stopped mid step when he saw someone familiar to him. Someone who, a long time ago, he would have called a friend.

“Error.”

Classic’s hands were stuffed in his pockets. Behind him, some scared monsters were hiding in the snow. It almost made the glitch laugh. 

No one else knew, but he also had Ink pointing out people who were hiding. The former guardian was standing next to the hidden monsters right now, occasionally moving things so they would freak out. Being a ghost seemed kind of fun sometimes.

“Classic. Can you move? I have to finish this universe off and you’re in the way.”

“No can do, Windows Vista. You’re making a pretty big mess out of Snowdin, arentcha?”

Both Error and Ink paused. When the artist began to practically die of laughter, Error held back a groan and narrowed his eyesockets.

_ “What _ did you just call me?”

“Windows Vista,” Classic repeated, chuckling at his reaction and glancing at the monsters hiding behind him, “Everyone’s scared of you!”

Ink could barely speak between his laughs, “He hasn’t changed a bit! Windows…  _ Windows  _ **_Vista!_ ** Because- because it was a failed program…”

Error shot a glare at him before raising his hand, “Disgusting.”

He shot strings at Classic. The other was able to dodge them by an inch, making them wrap around the tree behind him instead. 

“I guess this is it. After years of protecting this universe, you’re finally fed up with me.”

Although Ink seemed a little surprised by what the “original version” of himself said, he didn’t stop Error when he stepped forward and snickered.

“Frisk. They’re trying so hard to befriend everyone here, knowing that they murdered you just a week ago. They just reset and didn’t even care to see if you’re alright.”

He wasn’t wrong. The expression on Classic’s face said it all. It was the unspoken truth that he would rather not hear.

“Even then, they won’t be able to fight against someone like  **ME.** No matter how many times they reset, I’ll come back. If I wanted to, I could mess with their abilities and make it so they can never return. Your world is mine now.”

Classic shrugged lazily, “This is a pacifist timeline. Frisk will always be friends with us. Even if they did bad things in the past, they’ve changed. They weren’t even aware that we could remember what they did to us.”

Error’s expression soured at his nonchalance. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and knew it was Ink right away. 

“Classic’s always been stubborn like this,” The artist reminded gently, “Just don’t destroy the entire universe, remember? When Dream’s upset he’s a completely different person.”

“I know. He wants to do things the long way.” Error summoned a bone and leapt forward. 

He swung it at Classic, pushing the other skeleton back and forcing him to go flying into a tree. While he focused on the pile of snow that fell on top of the other, Classic teleported behind him and punched him.

Obviously, Error didn’t get sent back too far, but the physical contact was enough to make him glitch. He teleported again, this time ending up a few feet away from Classic.

“Error, you have to go. I don’t want Paps to see the mess you made out of our home,” Classic shoved his hands in his pockets. 

Panting for air, the darker skeleton laughed, “You’re begging me to leave so your  _ brother  _ doesn’t have to see? You  _ know  _ that he’ll forget this all.”

Something in Classic snapped. He threw a bone at Error, his eyelight finally lighting up blue.

“Error, watch out-!”

Ink’s warning was cut short. The glitch stepped back, clutching the bone that had gone through his chest.

Classic laughed, “Get dunked on! That’s what you get for trying to destroy a pacifist timeline that’s never done anything wrong to you!”

Even Ink was silent. Error pulled the bone out of his chest, glaring at Classic’s surprised expression.

“What?! How-”

“We’re hurting someone else right now,” Error explained with a smirk, “I’m perfectly fine. You, however…?”

Finally, he tugged on a string. Multiple buildings were thrown upwards. Much to Error’s amusement, Classic had gotten tied up and was now hanging up in the air, trying to squirm out the strings’ grip.

Before he could destroy Classic, however, a bone was tossed at him and he was pushed back. Even Ink looked surprised by the sneak attack.

When he turned around, however, his eyes narrowed.

“ERROR! Did you absorb his soul?!”

Blue. 

It was funny how the Swap Sans tried to be like him. He watched in amusement as Blue changed more and more each time he came into the Anti-Void to visit Error. 

Surprisingly, Blue had grown quite a bit. His aura was a little more tainted than before and his eyes no longer had the same sparkle they once had. Nowadays, there was a new shine in them, one that screamed out his importance to the Multiverse and made sure people recognized him. 

Ink vividly remembered the days when he would alongside Blue and Nightmare. Oh, how times had changed since then. 

Now,  _ Dream _ is being a supportive friend. Admittedly, he probably didn’t even know he was still alive, but it still counted regardless.

Next to Blue was Outer. Ah, yes. Outertale used to be one of his favorite universes, although he and Error much preferred Outerfell nowadays.

“Hey, Blue. Long time no see,” Error paused for a moment before smirking, “I knew you would come after me. Do you like what I’m doing?”

Before he could even respond, the glitch snickered.

“No need to answer. I already know that you do. You always  _ did  _ want me to create my own universe!”

Blue’s eyes had gotten darker, “Not like this. I never wanted you to destroy everything  _ he  _ tried so hard to protect.”

The feeling of Ink’s hand on his shoulder made the glitch relax. He always hated when people brought up what happened, even after the artist forgave him. 

“Don’t worry, Blue,” Outer’s smile was strained, “I’ll handle this. Go relax.”

Error scowled. “Wow, Blue. You’re using pawns now? Welp.”

“It’ll be a fair battle,” the guardian replied.

The other let out an irritated sigh before gaining control of Sans. Pawn vs pawn, just as it should be.

“The core code of this universe belongs to me now,” pointed out Error, “It’ll have a better use for me than it ever did in this world.”

Finally, Blue grabbed his wand with narrowed eyes.

“Outer, I’ll help as much as possible! Just… don’t hurt Classic, okay? He’s being controlled by Error, we just need to find a way to bring him back.”

“Okay.”

Clearly bored of their conversation, Error grabbed his trying and forced Classic to throw multiple bones at Outer. The other Sans was able to dodge them all fairly quickly.

The glitch glowered, this time making Classic summon a few blasters. Blue tugged Outer out of the way and used a shield to protect them. 

Finally, when Error was about to break the shield, they teleported away and ended up a few feet away from him. Irritated, he made Classic form another blaster and shoot at them.

This time, however, Outer summoned one as well. It was now blaster vs blaster. Magic up against magic. They pushed up against each other, trying to overpower the other with the most power they could possibly reach.

This was the perfect distraction for Error to transfer the stolen code over to the Anti-Void. Finally, after firing a few more blasters, the magic mixed together and caused nothing more than a dust storm.

Ink stayed alert the whole time. “Error, you can try to kill Blue right now, he’s distracted!”

Instead of replying, the dark skeleton summoned a bone and held it up high in the air, aiming to hit Blue. Outer teleported in front of him, grabbed his friend, and teleported away.

Dammit.

A few moments passed before Outer finally grabbed Error and conjured his soul.

“That soul doesn’t belong to you, pal.”

“You can’t hurt me! Hurting me would just make  _ you  _ hurt-”

“Why not just take a break, buddy? Sleeping is much better than trying to steal the code of an entire universe for no reason other than you wanting to rebuild a universe that died years ago.”

Error narrowed his eyes. “My job was never meant to be lazy.”

Both of them summoned more blasters. Instead of firing, Outer spoke again.

“I just have one last question. Who are they?” Once he saw the other’s confused expression, he clarified, “After we first met, I saw someone interesting. They seemed to be a nice person.”

In the distance, Blue’s eyes widened and he listened closely. He hadn’t heard of this. 

“But then, there was someone else. Someone much more… let’s just say he didn’t look so well,” Outer continued, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Does he have anything to do with you?”

Error didn’t reply. 

“Look, you can mess with my soul if you want,” Outer frowned, “But if  **HE** has the same idea? Bud… do you really know what would happen?”

The glitch teleported away, fear evident in his eyes.

“Wh… he can’t be…”

Next to him, Ink was practically shouting at him.

“Error, listen to me! He’s just trying to mess with your mind! We have to go- now! We have the core code of this place, let’s get outta here!”

His words fell upon deaf ears.

Again, Error grabbed his string and forced Classic to leap out of the ‘trap’ that Blue put him in. More bones were tossed at Outer.

“Okay, Error, you asked for it,” Outer’s eye lit up, “It’s time to use my  **SPECIAL ATTACK!”**

Ink kept tugging on Error’s arm, “Ru, we can go home now!”

“You got it, Outer!” Blue cheered.

Error stared dumbly when a shoe was thrown at him. Ink, too, looked confused as all hell. 

Blue glanced at Outer, “Your slipper. Your special attack, was your slipper.”

“Sorry, pal. I’m all out of ideas,” Outer admitted, “With barely a ninth of a SOLE, I can barely do a SOFT KICK.”

Ink paused.

Uh oh.

**_“PFFFFFFFFFT-”_ **

Error glared at Ink, who was practically dying of laughter. Blue, on the other hand, facepalmed at the other’s pun.

Classic sat up, rubbing his head and groaning, “What happened…?”

“Impossible!” Error shouted. Ink looked amazed as well, seeing as how he stopped laughing.

“You-!”

“We did it, pal! I dunno how but-”

Blue was cut off by Classic pushing him and Outer to the side.

“You forced my brother to see this!” The Sans shouted. In the distance, Papyrus could be seen hiding behind a tree.

Uh oh.

A bone was summoned and it shot through Error’s arm. The glitch watched pathetically as a blaster was aimed at him and fired.

Ink, however, ran up in front of him and forced them to teleport away. 

They escaped.

In the distance, Dream opened a portal and leapt through.

Classic looked around the remains of Snowdin- also known as what was practically a void at that point- and let out a sigh. He glanced back at Outer and Blue.

“Welp. This is weirder than what happens during resets.”

Blue frowned, “I’m sorry, Classic… but, hey! At least no one is dead…?”

“Guess it’ll be easier to find the human this time.” Even if he seemed calm, the others could practically hear the sadness in his tone. 

“Your timeline will be safe…! I’d go to another part of this world for a while if I were you, though. At least until this is all fixed which…  _ may  _ take a while. Don’t worry, Outer Sans and I will handle this a-”

He was cut off by someone grabbing him from behind and tugging him through a portal that seemingly opened out of the blue. Classic and Outer stared at where he once stood, both looking startled by whatever had just happened.

“...That happened,” Classic mumbled.

Outer, on the other hand, frowned. “I’m stuck here for a while now. Nice. Welp, I’m gonna go  _ space out  _ for a bit. Wanna come with?”

The other hesitated. “I want to talk to my brother, first. I’ll find you later, I have a lot of questions that I want answered.”

“Cya later, classic me,” Outer teleported away. 

Classic made his way over to his brother. Understandably, he looked terrified.

“Brother, who were they?” Papyrus questioned.

He shrugged, “I dunno. They seem like alternate versions of myself, heh. I guess alternate universes do exist.”

“Does that mean that there are different versions of me?” The curiosity in Papyrus’ tone made Classic’s grin widen. Although his brother wasn’t as much of a scientist as he was, he still got interested about most things science related.

“Guess so, bro. You’re the coolest of them all, though.”

“Yes! I  _ am  _ very cool! ...Where are we supposed to go now? Oh! Can we ask Undyne if we can stay with her for a little bit?”

Oh stars. Although Classic was internally screaming, he nodded slowly and shrugged. “Sure. While you go do that, I’m gonna go talk to starry me for a bit.”

Both of them looked in the distance at the other version of Sans laying down and staring up at the ceiling. 

“Sure thing! Just don’t do anything embarrassing!”

“I’ll try not to.”

With a final wave, Classic teleported to Outer’s side. The other looked surprised for a split second, although his lazy grin returned after only a few moments.

“So, you better explain  _ everything  _ that just happened.”

Outer nodded, “So this mess all started when…”

* * *

Somewhere far away from them, another skeleton was watching with narrowed eyesockets. 

A familiar red scar was on his cheekbone. It almost looked like it was melting, although the rest of his face was just fine. His eyelights were an odd mix of red and white. Everything he wore was white, black, or red.

He frowned, but closed the window to the universe with an irritated sigh. 

The Multiverse could never be at peace. Not with all these people around. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr: outerink.tumblr.com


End file.
